The first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs is winding down. The Colorado Avalanche, Boston Bruins and Winnipeg Jets are through to the second round, but the other five series remain in play as of this writing. On Wednesday night, we have three Game 6s from different first-round series, starting with the Penguins’ visit to New York to take on the Islanders.
Let’s look at each matchup, along with our online NHL betting predictions.
NHL News: Playoff Games (May 26)
Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Islanders, Game 6
(6:30 pm ET, NBC Sports) | Islanders lead, 3-2
Game 5 featured intense pressure from the Pittsburgh Penguins all night long — and it also featured brilliant goaltending from Islanders rookie Ilya Sorokin. The game went into double overtime, and there it was the Pens’ goalie, Tristan Jarry, who committed a blunder on a clearing attempt, who gave the Islanders the game. His clear went directly to Islanders forward Josh Bailey, who skated in and buried the puck. Sorokin is 3-0 in this series and stopped 48 shots in Game 5, a franchise postseason record for a rookie netminder. Sorokin started Game 1 when Semyon Varlamov could not go, and then he went to the bench for losses in Games 2 and 3. Since the start of Game 4, Sorokin has permitted only three goals in the last two games, running just over seven periods. Despite outshooting New York 20-4 just in the second period, Pittsburgh could not get the same dominance in terms of goals scored. Can Pittsburgh bring the series back home for Game 7?
Final Prediction:
Islanders 3, Penguins 2
Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning, Game 6
(8:00 pm ET, CNBC) | Lightning lead, 3-2
Florida has now started three different goalies in this series, and the rookie helped the Panthers live to play another day. Facing elimination in Game 5, Spencer Knight stopped 36 shots in a 4-1 win. Knight was 4-0-0 this season as a pro, after leaving Boston College after his sophomore season. Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger had given up a combined 19 goals in the first four games of the series. The Lightning scored just 53 seconds into the game to take an early 1-0 lead, but they would not score again. Knight also posted a shutout for USA Hockey in the gold medal game of the world juniors tournament against Canada, and now he has a win over the defending Stanley Cup champions, just two months after losing for BC in an NCAA Tournament elimination game. But will it be enough to stop a Lightning team with a 3-2 lead?
Final Prediction:
Lightning 3, Panthers 1
Vegas Golden Knights at Minnesota Wild, Game 6
(9:00 pm ET, NBC Sports) | Golden Knights lead, 3-2
Minnesota won Game 1 of this series and then fell off the table, dropping three in a row to face elimination in Game 5. They responded in Las Vegas with a 4-2 win despite just putting 14 shots on goal. Cam Talbot stopped 37 shots for the Wild, who got goals from Jordan Greenway, Kirill Kaprizov, Zach Parise and Nico Sturm. Vegas still has never closed out a postseason series at home, but they have a 3-2 lead heading back north. The road team has won four of the five games so far in this series. For Vegas, Mark Stone and Alec Martinez lit the lamp, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 10 shots. He permitted almost as many goals in this game — three — as he had in the first four games of the series combined — four. Despite a 33-7 edge in shots on goal over the last two periods, though, Vegas could not break through at home. The last time a team came back from a 3-1 series deficit to win was in 2019, when San Jose completed the comeback against these same Golden Knights. Can the Wild do it again?
Final Prediction:
Wild 3, Golden Knights 2
NHL Betting Odds
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